Question

There is a very simple problem I haven’t found any solution that solves it. Is there any way to distinguish between:

1. leaving the browser window (tab) using link
2. typing another URL to the URL bar in the browser
3. closing the tab or browser window

I need to bind different Javascript code for those actions. I know I can filter all links by setting them special class, but is there anything working in general?

Answer 1

You can’t detect external events of browser such as user’s clicking on browser’s close button or selecting Exit from menu or typing a new url in address bar.

You can however use onbeforeunload event to your advantage to do something:

window.onbeforeunload = function(){
  // do something
};

This will trigger when user navigates to other page by clicking on page’s link, closing browser or leaving current page in any way.